After the Drift
by KAMIKAKES
Summary: My first story was discontinued. This is a one-shot for Dira fans
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys!**

**I'm sorry to disappoint you, but 'After the Drift' is being discontinued. One of the reasons is because I was originally planning a one-shot for Diego and Shira. And another reason is because I feel the following chapters after the first aren't as good. And the final reason is because I'm focusing on my own story off of this wesbite. Again, I'm sorry if you feel sad about this.**

**Sincerely,**

**KAMIKAKES**

**P.S. I'll still make one-shots! **


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, you can do this." Diego breathed. "You're gonna do great. Don't make a wuss out of yourself."

A month after the continental drift, everyone's been adjusting to the new island. Peaches and Louis have been accepted with the Brat Pack. Crash and Eddie found more dangerous things to do. Sid was finally able to keep hold of Granny, well… most of the time. Ellie and Manny finally calmed those who've almost had heart-attacks during the Herd vs. Pirates battle; seriously, at least twenty had heart attacks! And the newest member of the herd, Shira, was truly "living la vida loca;" finally being free from Gutt's grasp.

Diego was doing fine, too. Except for the fact that there's a female saber in his life makes him shiver to the bone. Heck, Diego practically had a thing for Shira; maybe even more of a thing! I mean why wouldn't he? Shira was beautiful, hardcore, smart, amusing, everything about her Diego loved.

Right know Shira was talking to Ellie about, I don't know, girl stuff; while Diego was several feet away trying to build himself up to ask the tigress a simple question. He kept on breathing in and out, in and out, in and out etc. Then finally, after about 1 minute and 27 seconds of breathing deeply, Diego slowly and calmly walked up to the two females. Still, he was shaking inside.

He cleared his throat. "Um, h-hey girls."

The she-moth and tigress turned to Diego and Ellie said, "Oh hey Diego! Didn't expect you to show up. Shira and I were just talking."

"Nothing important." Shira said flatly, with a smile on her face. Diego blushed and narrowed his ears back when he realized she was smiling at _him._

Ellie saw the look on Diego's face and smirked. "I think I'll leave you two alone." Then she walked away.

Diego was about to say something when he and Shira heard Ellie scream, "Crash! Eddie! Don't you dare jump off of that cliff!" Then was followed by distant cheering/screaming. Obviously, Crash and Eddie jumped off the cliff. Then they heard one of the possum brothers say, "That was awesome!" Miraculously they survived. Diego just shook his head and sighed.

"Those two never stop, do they?" Shira questioned with a glint of sarcasm.

"It's like we're babysitting them," Diego bluntly said. "…and we can't give them back."

Shira laughed his joke while he lightly smirked. It was true, but at the least it's easier to keep track of Crash and Eddie than Granny.

Then Diego awkwardly said, "So…"

"So…" Shira said with the same tone.

This was truly and awkward moment for both sabers. Neither of them knew what to say or do next. It's like both of their minds were completely empty!

"So um…" Shira finally spoke up, "how are you?"

"Good, good." Diego replied while trying not to make eye-contact. Then he asked, "And how are you feeling?"

"I'm great," Shira answered, "never better."

"Right." Diego said. All of this awkward silence was killing him. Someone had to do something. Problem was, that someone… was him.

"So Shira," he began nervously, "I was wondering… if-uh… you, uh." His voice was cracking every second. (Just imagine Jim Carrey trying to ask a woman out and you'll see how Diego's acting here.) Shira just had her eyebrow up, wanting for an answer. _Is this guy messing with me or something? _She asked herself.

Diego began to sweat on his forehead and no words were coming out of his mouth; leaving only his jaw quivering. _Come on Diego! Pull yourself together! _He pressed himself. But how was he going to ask this question to the tigress of his dreams without accidentally wetting himself?! Now THAT would make him lose his pride and dignity. _PERMENANTLY_!

Then he managed, "W… w-would…" He had to have himself breathe three more times before he quickly spat out, "Wouldyouliketogooutwithmesometime?!"

Shira stood there blankly and asked, "What?"

Diego sighed with defeat. He knew he had to ask her eventually; but he couldn't if he just keeps wussing out. _I'm in trouble… _He thought to himself. _Okay, here it goes._ "I was wondering, if… well, you don't have to if you don't want to…" _BUT I WANT HER TO! _"So, Shira… would… would you, like to… go out on a date with me, sometime?" He was totally blushing underneath his fur. _DON'T YOU DARE! DON'T YOU DARE WET YOURSELF! _Diego commanded himself.

"So, let me get this straight. You came up to me, unable to say a word and letting out wordless noises, even embarrassing yourself in front of someone as downright rugged as myself, just to ask me out on a date with you?" Shira asked with the "you-have-to-be-kidding-me" tone with her eyebrow up once more.

"Yes…" Diego said with a painful look on his face. _Oh no, here it comes; she's gonna laugh at me._

Then Shira's expression softened as she smiled. "That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me."

Diego looked at her with shock and disbelief._ She said what?! _"So, does that mean-"

"Yes Diego," Shira interrupted, "of course I'll go out with you."

His smile grew twice as wide; Diego grinned like a Cheshire Cat. "Great! T-That's great!"

Shira just giggled. Diego continued, "So, how about tomorrow at, what, noon?"

"Sounds good… softie." she smirked, and then ran away.

"Softie?" Diego asked bewildered. But he started to smile. That nickname didn't matter now. Tomorrow noon, he was having a date with the world's most beautiful sabre.

Peaches saw the whole thing from a tree, since she was half-possum. She hung by her tail. _Yay! My Uncle Diego is gonna get a girlfriend! _She thought. _"Aunt Shira!" I love the sound of that!_

"Yes!" she quietly cheered to herself. But then she began to lose her balance.

"Whoa! AAHHH!" she yelled as she fell down. And then Peaches groaned, "Ow."

_**The next day**__**...**_

It was finally noon, Diego walked to find Shira. Until he was interrupted by a familiar sloth.

"Hey Diego old buddy of mine!" Sid waved as he ran up to the saber.

Diego groaned with annoyance. _If I had to run into the sloth, why did have to be today?! _"Hey Sid."

"So, where're you off to on such a wonderful day?" the sloth asked.

"Nowhere that concerns you." Diego snapped as he began to walk away.

"Aw come on Diego! You know you can talk to me!"

"No thank you."

"PLEEEEEEEEASE?!" Sid begged and begged.

"Bye Sid." Diego said.

But then as soon as Diego started walking away, Sid grew a smirk on his face; getting an idea of where his friend could be heading. "Oh I know where you're going." He continued, "You're on your way to see Shira!"

Diego growled furiously under his breath at Sid's words. The last thing he wanted was for the sloth to spy on him and Shira. Or it was the last thing_ Sid _wanted; if he spied on them, it would be his own death wish from Diego. "Just hold to together Diego. Just hold to together." he mumbled to himself as he walked further away.

"Good luck buddy!" Sid called out. "This one's a keeper!"

_**In the woods…**_

Diego continued walking, searching for Shira. She was nowhere in sight. But the male saber wasn't going to let himself think that the female is a no show. Let alone that she forgot the date.

"Shira! Shira!" he called out. "Shira-OOF!"

He was pinned down with his face on the ground. Someone pounced on him from behind.

"Bet you didn't see that coming! Eh softie?" a familiar female voice. A smirk grew on Diego's face the moment he heard the nickname "softie."

"There's only one person I know who has the guts to call me that." he played along. He reversed his position so that he faced the one pounced him, but he was still on the ground. Diego was looking straight into two teal eyes.

"I knew it was you." Diego chuckled.

"Right." Shira stated sarcastically. "Afternoon."

"Afternoon yourself." Diego groaned annoyingly, and continued, "At least you're not underneath the one you asked out."

Shira raised her eyebrow. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No." Diego replied. "Just, personally, this isn't how I expected the date to start."

"The guy being pounced by the girl." Shira laughed. Then she became closer to Diego's face and whispered, "How original." Then she got off.

Diego went into a daze the moment she leaned close to his face. She was so beautiful. He had almost let out a purr, but he didn't. He suddenly remembered Shira moved off him; so he got up.

"So tell me Diego," Shira asked, "what _are_ we going to do today?"

"Well…" Diego didn't have an answer right away; but he didn't want Shira to know that. Then he had an idea. "Maybe we could go hunting. Catch something for lunch."

Luckily Shira seemed to follow. "Mm, sure. I am pretty hungry."

The sabers walked for a few minutes till they came upon a herd of antelope. They hid behind bushes, watching their prey grazing the grass.

"Okay, so here's the plan; you chase one of them down, while I'll be hiding over there," Shira explained and pointed at far-away bushes at Diego's right (your right) with her claw. "Make sure you and the deer are about to cross there, then I'll come out." she continued.

"You sure this'll work?" Diego asked.

"Are you judged my hunting skills?" Shira firmly asked back.

Diego sighed with annoyance. "No. I'm not."

"Good." Shira said as she headed towards the bushes and hid in them.

As she did that, Diego prepared himself. He crouched low, feeling grass underneath him. He softly growled as he eyed one of the biggest stags. He arched his legs down into a hunting position. Then he let out a roar and ran into the field.

The deer immediately sprang up and ran away the moment they all saw a large saber-toothed tiger running towards them. Diego managed to catch up with one stag. He chased it in circles, zig-zag, and straight lines.

When he and the deer were coming closer to where Shira was, the tigress got the signal. She arched her legs down like Diego did. Then let out a roar and lunged when the deer came across.

Diego stopped in his tracks and saw her wide-eyed. Shira literally grabbed the stag by the body when she jumped out. The deer toppled down, however he and Shira rolled over each over away from Diego. He could still hear her tough grunts and yells; realizing Shira was no dandelion when it came to hunting.

"She is awesome!" Diego breathed with a goofy grin on his face.

But Shira seemed to have her paws full. The deer was struggling, she was on top, trying to keep her lunch down. The deer kept on smacking her side with his antlers; Shira would let out a cry of pain. That's when she knew she needed help. "Diego help me!"

Diego suddenly snapped out of his trance and looked over at Shira. "Diego! Help!" She continued to grunt as the deer continued to pry her off. "It won't stop moving! I need your help! AAH!" she cried when an antler smacked her in the face.

"I'm coming Shira!" He ran towards her. He knew she needed his help. If Shira had a deer to kill, Diego would be by her side.

"Kill it! You need to kill it!" Shira instructed. "And hurry!"

When he got there, Diego did as he was told and bit the deer on the throat; crushing its wind-pipe and slowing killing the stag. After the stag died, Shira slumped of its lifeless body to the ground. She breathed heavily as she faced the sky. She looked over at Diego, who had just nudged her head with a concerned expression.

"Good job." she breathed.

"You too." he replied.

Shira got up and shook her head. Then she looked at the deer carcass and said, "Well, lunch is served." as she slapped its rear end.

After the sabers ate, they continued walking through the woods.

Honestly, Diego knew nothing about Shira. He really wanted to learn more about the tigress; except anything too personal, for the respect he has for her. "So, tell me Shira. Where did you come from?"

Shira sighed. "Well, like all sabers I came from a pack. Part of your average pack of saber-toothed tigers I guess. Our pack was pretty small so no one really knew about us."

"Did you have a family?" Diego asked.

"Yeah, but it didn't last long." Shira answered. "My mom died when I was two years old and my dad left us the moment I was born. I guess he wanted a son. But instead he got me; a girl." She lowered her head down and closed her eyes tightly.

"After my mom died I've been alone." she sadly said. "No one else loved me. Because they believed that grey fur was a curse; they believed that death was on its way to anyone that's with a grey furred saber. They all made me an outcast and deserted me; called me names like 'freak,' or 'ugly,' and they mostly called me a 'broken saber.' I knew I never belonged. So I ran away, never looking back. I figured when they abandoned me, it was probably the greatest idea they've ever had. After that I was found by Gutt and the crew, and I'd guess you'd know the rest."

The male saber couldn't believe what he had just heard. Diego couldn't believe how one pack could be so cruel to anybody. It made him furious to hear that anyone did this to Shira. _Why would anyone do that to Shira? How dare her pack would do that to their own kind? She's not a freak, she's an angel that fell down from heaven. _Wow, that made him sound soft._ She's not ugly, she's the most beautiful creature I've ever seen! And she's certainly not a broken sabre, she's so incredible that she brings shame to the sun and moon whenever they shine down on her fur. _Again, he sounded kind of soft. _Beyond that, Shira deserved more than a stupid pack and a gruesome sea captain that treated her like garbage._

"I'm really sorry, Shira." Diego apologized sorrowfully. "I wish there was something I could've done about it." _And I really mean that._

Shira lifted her head up and looked at the male saber. Her eyes became watery but no tears spilled out. Then she softly said, "I'm okay. There's absolutely nothing you could've done about it, Diego. What's happened has happened."

"But you never deserved it," Diego reasoned, "you deserved so much better.'

Shira smiled softly at his words. "Thanks Diego. That means a lot to me, it really does."

Diego returned the smile and said, "Your welcome. Here to help."

"But it's like not you experience it, right?" Shira inquired.

Diego stopped in his tracks along with Shira. And sighed, "Actually, my childhood was much similar to yours."

"How?" Shira asked again, almost interested.

"My pack was pretty large." he explained. "With family, there was me, my dad, my mom, and my older brother. He was born a few minutes before me. But a month later he died. My dad has always been abusive to me, because I was smaller, weaker to be the second born. He'd beat me day in and day out, non-stop, always making me feel bad about myself. One day my mom caught him, and killed him. My mom has always been like my best friend. Call me a 'mama's boy' all you want, but she was the best. The absolute best.

"One day, when I was a teenager, humans came into our territory and attacked us. They killed off half our pack…" he paused for a brief moment before continuing. "Including my mom. All who were left were our leader Soto, Oscar, Zeke, Lenny, and me. I was so angry at those humans, taking away the person I've loved most. Soto was much angrier than me though. He wanted revenge; good old, bloody revenge. So he sent me to get the human leader's baby to get even. The whole pack invaded the humans; and the leader's wife took their baby and ran away, and I ran after her. She was brave enough to jump off a waterfall. By the time I caught up, the mother was nowhere in sight and the baby was found by Manny and Sid."

"Oh! So that's how you met those two!" Shira grinned.

"Yeah, and I didn't know what I've gotten myself into either!" Diego chuckled.

They both had their chuckle as Diego continued. "Yeah. But those guys really caught on me. I helped them escape the pack and return the kid to its home. And uh, we also… killed Soto in the process."

Shira's eyes widened and asked, "You killed your pack leader?"

"Hey he was about to kill us!" Diego blushed and smiled. "And besides it was the first thing that came to mind."

"So you had no other choice!" Shira chuckled.

"Exactly!" Diego laughed.

They both started laughing. After two minutes of endless laughter they began to calm down.

"You know something?" Shira spoke up. "This date is actually going great."

"Yeah," Diego blushed once more. "I think so too." _This is incredible! I'm the luckiest saber alive!_

"There's only one thing missing…" Shira said with a devious smirk on her face.

"What?" Diego asked, totally dumbfounded at the moment.

"A chase!" Then she knocked Diego to the ground ran away before saying, "Catch up if you can softie!"

Diego got up from the ground and shook his head. He smirked at Shira as she ran. He ran after her a called out, "I'm gonna get 'cha kitty!"

So he ran after the tigress through the woods. Diego laughed to himself as he ran. This is the most fun he's had in years. _This totally ranks out the Chasm of Death in Dino World when I had that squeaky voice! _As the chase went on, Shira became more and more out of sight. Diego tried to speed a little more, knowing that the female saber can be as quick as a lightning bolt.

When he jumped out of some bushes the second time he had thought he had Shira surrounded. But the only thing in sight was a shallow medium-sized pond. Diego looked from left to right; but Shira wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Shira?" he called out. No answer. The male saber began to grow suspicious. Shira wasn't one to just give and ran away, nor could she just vanish into thin air.

Suddenly he felt a hard push from behind him. And he fell in to the water head first. When he fell in, Shira began to laugh uncontrollably at her success.

"Yes! Yes! She shoots, she scores!" she cheered. "Hope you've learned how to swim softie! 'Cause you forgot one thing; nobody calls me 'kitty!'"

She continued laughing and soon planned the rest as soon as Diego would come up. But he never came back to the surface. Shira's laughter was slowing dying away the longer time took.

"Um, Diego?" she called out. No answer. "Uh, hey Diego? W-We should be getting back, I think the herd is looking for us." Still no answer, only bubbles appeared at the surface. Shira's worries turned into fears. _What if Diego doesn't know how to swim? What if he doesn't come back up? What if he's drowning this very moment?!_

"Oh God, oh God!" Shira cried. "Why is this happening?! This is all my fault! My pack was right about me! I am a curse, death is on its way to those who are with me! I'm a monster! This is all my fault! This all my fault! This is all my fault!" She kept blaming and blaming herself at the thought of her friend's disappearance.

Shira brought her head closer to the water, trying to sight of anything large and orange, and called out, "Diego! Diego, are you there?! Dear God please tell me you're not dead! Diego-AAH!"

She was interrupted by Diego jumping from the water, grabbing Shira by her front haunches with his forearms, and pulling her back into the water.

When she reached the surface, she struggled to stay above. Shira kept splashing around and she had a fearful expression on her face.

Diego's head popped up again, and he grinned at Shira's struggled. "I guess you didn't know that it pays when a sloth teaches you how to swim!"

"D-Diego!" Shira sputtered, still struggling. "How could you?! How could you do this to me?!"

"It's a little something called _payback, _kitty!" Diego replied, still full of triumph.

"Not that! How could you pull me into the water?!"

"Why, what's wrong with water?"

"I can't swim, stupid!" she practically yelled. "Did you forget that I almost sunk to the bottom of the ocean?!"

"Wait what?!" Diego yelled. _Darn it Diego! You really did it this time! _"Oh God Shira, I am so, so sorry! I had no idea you couldn't swim! Oh man, I am such an idiot! Shira I'm so- WOAH!"

He was interrupted by Shira pressing his head down with her paws, making him go under water. When he got back up he roughly coughed and stared at Shira with shock.

"I can't believe you fell for that! HA!" Shira laughed.

"Are you telling me that you _can_ swim?!" Diego growled furiously.

"Been learning ever since I became a first mate pirate!" Shira proudly said.

"Well don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart-attack!" Diego said.

"Then don't pretend to drown on me!" Shira shot back. "I actually thought you were gone." She punched Diego in the shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Diego apologized softly. "I didn't mean to scare you, Shira."

Shira sighed and swam closer to Diego. "It's alright. I guess we both wanted to mess with each other." Diego let out a small chuckle. Then Shira smirked, "But you are right about what you said before; you are an idiot."

Diego made a "pfft" sound and rolled his eyes. "Whatever!" Shira just quietly snickered at him. Then she shook her head, which made her earrings jingle. Diego playfully narrowed his eyes at her.

Then he splashed water in her face. Shira gasped with surprise and splashed Diego back. Both sabers splashed each other back, laughing and having fun.

Shira splashed him once more, and Diego laughed, "Okay, okay! That's enough!"

The grey furred female didn't quite listen. So she joyfully splashed the orange furred male on last time, which he laughed to. And then she began to laugh too.

Then Shira spoke up. "By the way, I just wanted to thank you; for helping me escape from Gutt. I guess I did trade one pack for another; I should've known he would treat me like my old pack did, even if he didn't know about the whole 'grey furred curse;' maybe 'cause he thought my black stripes made me look more tough. What you did for me, to let me join your herd, it was the first time anyone's ever cared for me so much. Thank you." she thanked graciously. Diego smiled at her.

"That's what you do in a herd, we have each other's backs." he replied.

"Something that I should remember from now on." Shira said. "I've never had that love and comfort in my pack like you guys have. All of those sabers have been calling me curse; saying that I shouldn't have been born. Let alone a mistake. And the more they treated me badly, the more I thought to myself, _What if it's true? What if I shouldn't have existed? What if I am a monster? _There was one time a few years ago when I actually called myself a monster."

Diego wouldn't have ever known the pain and suffering she went through. He almost knew, almost understood the horror in her past. _But being called a monster for her appearance? Jeez, and I thought I had it bad in _my _pack._

"They shouldn't have done that to you." he said. "Doing that to their own kind, they should be ashamed of themselves. Judging you based on your fur color was the worst they could've done. Because they have no idea how lucky you are to have that grey fur."

Shira looked at Diego with confusion and asked, "What do you mean? I'm not lucky. My whole life was a curse thanks to my stupid fur!"

"You're wrong, Shira, it's not stupid. It's anything but that. I bet my life, that those dope sabers only treated you like that because they were jealous. They were jealous of you that you had such amazing fur! They were sore losers! They only drove you away because they didn't want to have to wake up every single morning, seeing a tigress who was beyond beautiful! Shira, everything about you is beautiful; your fur, your eyes, your personality, everything about you is perfect! So perfect that you could make the entire universe bow down to you! And don't you dare say that you were born a curse; because you never were, and never will be!" That was the longest speech Diego has ever made. And the fact he said all of those words from his heart. He meant every sentence. Every word. Every letter.

Tears began to slowly stream down Shira's cheeks. She didn't know whether to think Diego was right or wrong. What he said was lovely, even passionate! But she didn't know what brought him to say this. "Why are you saying this to me?" she asked.

Diego swam closer, his was face only a few inches away from Shira's. _Time to tell you how I feel__._ He looked deep into her liquefied teal eyes. And said, "Because… I love you."

Shira couldn't believe her ears. _Oh my God, he said them; those three magical words! He said them! _"Really?"

"Really." Diego answered with a heartfelt smile.

Shira returned the heartfelt smile. _Now's my chance to tell him! _She looked deep his glazing hazel green eyes, and said, "I love you, too."

Diego smiled happily. "Well then I guess the sabre's out of the bag, right?" Shira laughed heartily and wiped her tears away with her paw. There was something else Diego wanted to try. He gently moved Shira's paw away with his own. The female looked at the male confused. Diego hesitated a bit before slowly leaning forward. Shira sort of saw where this was going, but didn't retreat; instead she leaned forward, and closed her eyes. Then, Diego finally closed his eyes the moment his lips touched her lips.

The kiss was incredible. Sparks of passion flew everywhere when their lips collided. Diego had never felt anything so incredible before. The continental drift was the best thing that could've happened to the world, and because of its events, it brought him to Shira; and he was thankful for that. As his lips caressed her lips, Shira had never felt so loved. It was as if all the treachery in her life has suddenly melted away the moment she realized she was in love with Diego. None of that mattered anymore. All that mattered, was she was his and he was hers.

As the seconds turned into minutes, the kiss grew more passionate. Shira managed to place her forelegs on Diego's shoulders, and Diego managed to place his forelegs around Shira's waist. Both sabers were purring in their embrace. Neither of them wanted this moment to end. It's like no two souls were more perfect for each other like Diego and Shira. Even with all the pain in their past, their love was more powerful than anything.

When they released, the couple looked into each other's eyes and smiled. Diego licked Shira on the neck up to the ear, earning a purr from the tigress.

"Hi handsome." Shira grinned.

"Hey beautiful." Diego grinned back.

Later on, Diego and Shira when went running around the island; a sabre's sort of idea of courtship. Shira was up front with Diego right behind her. They laughed as they ran.

They ran through other animals as they were passing by. Most of the animals became annoyed at the couple, like a cranky, old molehog that shouted, "Hey! Watch it, you crazy cats!" after both Diego and Shira jumped over him.

Although other animals felt happy and supportive for the couple. Like a horned beaver couple they just ran past. The beaver wife sighed happily.

"Young love." She frowned at her mate and slapped him in the face, receiving an "Ow!" from him.

"You don't even say 'good morning' to me anymore!" she snarled.

The two sabers soon ran past Peaches and Louis. The teenagers heard Diego yell, "I'm on your tail, Shir!" and Shira yell, "Eat my dust D!" in the distant.

Peaches squealed with excitement. "Yay! I knew Shira was gonna be my new aunt sometime soon!"

"Yeah," Louis smiled, "they sure do make a great couple."

Diego and Shira ran past Manny, Ellie, Crash and Eddie next. As Manny saw the look of happiness on Diego's face, he couldn't help but put a smile on his face; feeling glad that his friend has finally found love.

"Well would you look at that!" Ellie said. "Looks like Diego's got his own special someone."

"_Diego and Shira sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" _Crash and Eddie sang and then began to laugh uncontrollably. But immediately stopped when they saw their sister's stern expression.

"Enough, both of you! You have no right to make fun of Diego. He is our friend and we should support the fact that he now has love in his life. Understood?" Ellie ordered.

"Yes Ellie!" the possums whimpered in unison.

"Ellie's right." Manny came in. "But still, it's about time Diego confesses to Shira. That saber sure has a way of hiding his emotions; I bet his main objective in life is to savor his pride." He tried to have a sarcastic expression, but Manny had to let out a chuckle remembering when he and Sid made fun of Diego's feelings.

Sid has been walking with Granny when the same saber couple ran to them. Diego and Shira literally circled the two sloths a few times and then ran off laughing.

Sid grinned at the happy sight and said, "I knew it, I knew it! I just knew he tiger would admit his love for her! I could smell it on him! OW!" Granny had just hit on the head with her cane.

"Ya'll can sniff Lady and Snow White later, Sidney!" the elderly sloth nagged. "Right now it's Precious' feeding time!" She began to walk off searching for her pet whale. "Precious! Precious! Where you at baby?! Time for Mama to feed ya! Precious! Hey Sidney, can you chew this for me?!" She held an apple in the air. "I lost my dentures again!"

Sid sighed, knowing very well that "Precious" wasn't going to show up. Still, he had to follow his grandmother.

Diego and Shira were still on the romantic chase. Eventually they were heading towards an empty cave. Diego smirked and sped up even faster. He playfully tackled Shira into the cave. Shira didn't get angry though. Nope, in fact she probably would've had the same idea as Diego. She had her back pinned to the ground and Diego was standing above her, grinning like a Cheshire Cat once more.

"Now I have you," he purred seductively, "and you won't be able to escape me."

"Who said I was?" Shira asked innocently.

Diego didn't answer. Instead he leaned down and pressed his lips on Shira's and kissed her roughly, yet passionately. Shira moaned into the kiss, and began to gently stroke Diego's haunches with her claws. Diego released the kiss and began to tenderly lick his girlfriend's neck up and down with his tongue.

"I love you." Shira breathed.

"Say that again…" Diego whispered in her ear, and then continued to lick the female.

"I love you." Shira giggled.

"Not good enough…" Diego pretended to snarl, and then growled seductively, "Let me her the kitty roar. Come on Shira, say it louder." He licked her all over her face.

"I love you much it hurts!" Shira roared loudly and seductively.

"Just like that!" Diego said. Shira gave a long lick against his neck up to his chin, which made Diego purr madly. "I, am madly in love with you Shira." Shira giggled like a cub and kissed her boyfriend's nose a few times.

Diego chuckled to himself. "It's funny; I was never really the best at romantic things. I mean, I never sent any girls running to the hills like Sid does. I just, well… I guess I've been so stuck up on being single, that I never really gave dating a chance."

"But look at you know." Shira grinned with mischief flashing in her eyes.

"Yep, and now I have no regrets," Diego grinned, "and I never will."

"Good, that's what I like to hear." Shira said, and then pushed Diego back so she was laying on top of him. "I just don't get it."

"What's wrong with this relationship?" Diego asked concern.

"No, it's not the relationship Diego, I really want it to last." Shira sighed, "It's just… all my life, whenever any saber would look at me, they would be disgusted and go back to the curse. But when we first met, you didn't mention a curse; nor did you even speak about my grey fur. Why is that?"

"Shira," He softly stroked her cheek with his paw. "I guess that I was too transfixed by your beauty, that my mind was strong enough to fight the thoughts of there being an odd-colored saber in my presence. I would never let myself think badly of you. The first time I saw you on Gutt's ship, I have never seen anything or anyone so beautiful in my entire life. I've thought that someone like you would have a life of luxury, and _not _being treated like garbage."

Shira smiled at the male saber. "You are so soft."

"Eh, I try." Diego shrugged.

"I wish we've met when we were kids," Shira said suddenly, "we could've known each other much longer."

"It couldn't have happened any other way." Diego implied. "I'm at least glad that I met you when I did."

Shira nodded, "Me too…"

"Shira?" Diego asked. "Will you be my mate?"

The female was a bit taken back on Diego's unexpected proposal. But Shira loved him to death, she wanted to be with him forever and ever. "Of course I will." Diego smiled, then leaned up and sealed her with a soft, long and passionate kiss.

The sun was already down, and the moon was out. Most of the animals on the island are sleeping by now; including the herd.

The sabers released from their kiss, and Shira gently got off Diego and laid next to him. Diego placed his forearm over her to keep her warm. Then he spoke up again. "Shira?"

"Yes Diego?"

"You're not a monster. You're a miracle."

Shira smiled and licked Diego's cheek. And then she fell asleep. Diego rested his chin on top of Shira's head. As he gazed down at the tigress, he made himself swore to her. _I promise you Shira; as soon as we're official mates, I will always love and protect you. Even at the end of time. _He fell asleep. Diego had no doubts or second thoughts of asking Shira to be his mate. His only worry was how to tell the herd without them getting over excited!


End file.
